HILLINGDON has the second highest number of seizures of counterfeit alcohol in the UK.

There were 17 seizures between July 2010 and August 2011, new figures show.

This mirrors a national trend that has seen seizures rocket five-fold in the past year.

Findings suggest the rise in demand for cheap booze is being exploited by gangs eager to cash in.

Hillingdon Council’s clampdown on counterfeit alcohol began last July and has so far led to nine liquor licences being revoked.

Bootleggers are using industrial alcohol, unfit for human consumption, and adding bleach to methylated spirit to make the alcohol clear, so it looks like real vodka.

Ingredients like methanol, which can blind, isopropanol and other harmful products, normally used in cleaning fluids, antifreeze and paint stripper, have all been detected in batches seized across the UK.